President’s Awards for Support Service Excellence
The aims of the President’s Awards for Support Service Excellence are to recognise and reward outstanding contribution and
excellent performance of staff in the support services and to acknowledge the contribution of support staff to the University’s
success.
The principles of equality, fairness, impartiality and transparency will apply in the implementation of the scheme.
The scheme will be evidence-based and judgements will consider the qualitative, rather than the quantitative, contribution of
staff.
Eligibility
The scheme is open to all full-time and part-time support staff of the University.
The definition of support staff, for the purposes of this scheme, is all categories of staff excluding academic and research
staff.
Individuals and teams are eligible to be nominated for awards.
Nomination
Awards will be presented on an annual basis.
Nominations may be submitted by any two members of the University community (staff or students).
The nomination process will involve the submission of a completed Nomination Form and supporting evidence by the
proposer.
Assessment
The Assessment Panel will normally include:





Executive Director of Operations (Chair)
Vice-President for Innovation and Performance
Senior member of support staff, nominated by the President
HR Director or nominee
Up to two persons from outside the University, nominated by the President
To facilitate the assessment of nominations, the panel may independently verify, clarify or seek further information from
proposers, nominees, line managers, service users or other. The panel may, additionally, seek further evidence in order to
determine the levels of performance that may be deemed ‘excellent’ or levels of contribution that may be deemed
‘outstanding’.
Making the Awards
Up to five awards will be presented every year. Awards may be presented to individuals or to teams. Fewer than five awards
may be presented if the nominations received do not provide sufficient justification for award.
The Assessment Panel will make recommendations to the President on the basis of an evidence-based assessment of
excellence in the following areas:
Innovation and Imagination
Teamwork
Customer Service
Flexibility
Effectiveness
The panel will look at each of these five areas and use the available evidence to decide whether, in its view, what has been
done by the nominee should be identified as “excellent” or indeed “outstanding”. The panel will then come to a balanced
decision about an overall level of excellence and will select the nominees who are to receive awards.
There are considerable variations between the many support roles in NUI Galway. What counts as excellence in one area
may be a routine expectation in another. The panel will take this into account, and will assess excellence against the
standards and expectations which apply to the particular unit, role, grade or team which has been nominated for an award.
In doing so it will use the evidence provided in the nomination. It may also make its own independent enquiries in order to
better understand the merits of a particular nomination.
Areas of Excellence
Awards will take account of the following criteria
Criterion
Innovation and Imagination
Teamwork
Customer service
Flexibility
Effectiveness – Getting the job
done
Evidence Sought
Identifying or developing creative and innovative solutions to existing problems, to
make a positive impact by substantially improving overall effectiveness and service
delivery in any or all areas of the support services.
The panel will look for evidence that the nominees, through excellent teamwork,
have made a significant and positive impact in any or all areas of the support
services. “Team” may be a unit-based work team or a cross-functional team that
has worked collaboratively on a project or initiative. Excellence may be recognised
for the delivery of a significant project, in the achievement of outstanding results or
in the consistent provision of service excellence.
Evidence that an individual or team that has made an outstanding contribution to
enhancing customer service. This may be either in the sustained delivery of
outstanding customer service or in the development of innovative approaches that
have significantly enhanced service to service users. “Customers” may include
internal and external service users (University colleagues, students, graduates,
suppliers, external organisations, etc.).
Evidence that the nominated individual or team has shown excellence in adapting
their work to changing circumstances or changing demand, looking at issues such as
changing what they do, the way that they do it, or perhaps the way that they
interact with service users or suppliers.
Evidence that an individual or team understands what it needs to do for its service
users, focuses on meeting their needs and requirements, maintains focus through to
delivery and follows through to ensure that the service user is satisfied.
Announcement of awards
The winners of each award will be announced and awards will be presented by the President at an annual awards event.
There will be a public citation, explaining why the particular individual or team has been selected for their award.
Nature of awards
Each winner and each member of each winning team will receive a personalised memento as a permanent token of
recognition for their contribution.
Additionally there will be an award of €1,000 to support the professional development of each individual award winner. This
may be used to support attendance at development and training events or for other appropriate purposes relevant to
professional development. Team awards may be of greater total value, depending on circumstance and at the discretion of
the Assessment Panel.
Management and Review
The President’s Awards for Support Service Excellence will be managed by the Executive Director of Operations.
The scheme will be reviewed after its first year of implementation, and thereafter as required, and will be modified in
accordance with changing circumstances and requirements.
____________________________________________